Twenty-five years after its first introduction to the world, Mazda’s Miata is set to enter its fourth generation. The third generation “NC” Miata is quite long in the tooth (it was introduced in 2005), so the enthusiast crowd is eager to see what Mazda has up its sleeve for the “ND” Miata.

Thankfully, Mazda has revealed a few details about its next generation Miata at the New York Auto Show. While the Japanese automaker didn’t provide a glimpse of what the production bodywork will look like, it did provide us a full look at the vehicle’s new chassis.

Like all of Mazda’s recently redesigned vehicles, the Miata will be built using SKYACTIV technology. The SKYACTIV-CHASSIS used in the ND Miata weighs 220 pounds less than the chassis used in the current NC Miata. Mazda is only stating that the chassis itself is 220 pounds lighter; that doesn’t mean that the entire vehicle will be that much lighter (although we can dream). Added safety features and increased creature comforts are sure to add back some more weight.

But Mazda’s efforts to reduce overall curb weight in vehicles like the Mazda6, Mazda3, and CX-5 leave us hope that the Miata too will shave quite a bit from its current 2,447 pound curb weight.

"This SKYACTIV-CHASSIS expresses a deep-dive chronicle – complete with beginning, middle and conclusion – of the passion, challenges and triumphs being poured into the next-generation MX-5 Miata," said Robert Davis, senior vice president, U.S. Operations, Mazda North American Operations. "The dedication of the R&D and Design teams to honor the vehicle's dynamic heritage and globally-recognizable features is evident from the chassis' structural blueprint, and will undoubtedly translate into what we believe will be a remarkable production car."

2.0-liter Skyactiv four-cylinder engine

As for what will power the next generation Miata, we’re guessing that it will receive a tweaked version of the SKYACTIV 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that is currently used in the Mazda 3 and CX-5. In those applications, the engine puts out 155hp. However, we’re sure that Mazda’s magic can push that figure past the current engine’s 170hp rating. And we can always look forward to SKYACTIV 2 engines for a mid-cycle refresh of the Miata.

"One thing absent from this production engine is the 4-2-1-exhaust manifold, designed to allow the engine to run at an even higher 13:1 compression ratio. As it turns out, the SkyActiv engine was never intended for the current Mazda3 but was rushed into the product cycle. That header, however, wouldn’t fit and so it had to be left out at the expense of some power and torque."

The header design is a huge part of the ability of this engine to run at 13:1 compression (14:1 in Europe with premium fuel) without knocking. They are long, and large calibre, and even bigger in the 2.5L variants.